FM 10: Official LOSC Lille Métropole Thread- Beware of Hazard

WELCOME TO THE LOSC LILLE MÉTROPOLE CLUB THREAD

HISTORY

The Birth of LOSC Lille Métropole

Lille Olympique Sporting Club was formed in 1944, from the merger of Olympique Lillois and SC Fives. SC Fives club giving to the new club the "SC" in their name and their blue away kit, Olympique Lillois' red and white colours are still LOSC's main colours.

In the aftermath of World War II LOSC won 2 league titles, 4 runner-up spots and 5 national cups, but later were overshadowed by the achievements of local rival RC Lens when it comes to both performances and local popularity. The intense rivalry between the two clubs can also be traced back to the social and economical backgrounds of the two cities, Lille OSC being the club of the large "bourgeois" city of Lille, capital of the French Flanders, with RC Lens coming from the modest medium sized miners' town of Lens.

Recent history- The Re-emergence of Lille

The club were revived by Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic which led to the return to the French Ligue 1 in 2000, after 3 seasons in Ligue 2, Lille's results have generally bettered those of their local rivals, with three Champions League participations in 2002, 2005 and 2006 and a victory in the Intertoto Cup in 2004. In the 2004/05 Ligue 1 campaign, Lille stunned many by finishing an excellent second place in the table by the end of the season, ahead of the likes of Monaco, Marseille and of course their local rivals, Lens. A title challenge had even been mounted against Lyon though it was to be a brief one despite beating them in their home game. Lille however automatically qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stages, and hoped to make a good impression in Europe by progressing through the groups. On November 2, 2005 they recorded one of the greatest results in their history by defeating Manchester United in the Champions League group phase. However, Lille were only able to pick up one point in their final two matches. They parachuted into the UEFA Cup by finishing third in their group, leaving Manchester United behind and out of Europe in fourth place. Lille's UEFA Cup run finished in the last 16, their opponent and ultimate winners of the competition Sevilla going through 2-1 on aggregate.

In the 2005/06 Ligue 1 campaign, Lille confirmed their revival finishing third, behind Lyon (a club they managed to convincingly beat home (4-0) and away (1-3)) and Bordeaux. Their regional rivals Lens once again finished behind in 4th place. The third place meant Lille qualified for the Champions League final qualifying round. They beat Rabotnički 4-0 on aggregate and qualified for the third time in six years for the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League, without a proper stadium. In the group stage, Lille finished 2nd behind Milan, recording another great result, at San Siro, beating Milan 2-0. Going through to the last 16, Lille was drawn against old foes, Manchester United. This time, the English giants prevailed 2-0 on aggregate, avenging the previous year's humiliating defeat.

Club Information

Full Name: LOSC Lille Métropole

Founded: 1944

Nickname: Les Dogues (The Mastiffs)

Media Prediction: 6th

Major Rivals: RC Lens, USBCO, Paris St-Germain

Legends: Valid Halilhodzic

Icons: Claude Puel, Grégory Wimbée, Philippe Brunel, Grégory Tafforeau, Fernando D’Amico, Bruno Cheyrou

Affliated Clubs: Diambars, AS Marsouins, Charleroi

Club Captain: Rio Mavuba

Kits:

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu30/uscdpalermo/kitslille.jpg

Stadium

LOSC are currently in a temporary home at the Stadium Lille Metropole- Villenueve-d'Ascq but they are due to move into the new €324 million, 50,186 capacity Stade Borne de l'Espoir in 2012 and you will move in on the 1.7.2012 on the game.

Squad Analysis

Lyon have once again snatched one of LOSC biggest talents in Michel Bastos but you have gained the man who had filled PSG's no.1 spot for the last 3 years. Lille also pulled off a major coup in the signing of Ivory Coast international Gervinho.

Goalkeepers

Mickael Landreau- Biggest summer addition, arrived from PSG. Your best goalkeeper for sure and arguably one of your biggest assests. Frustratingly out for about 6 months from the start.

Ludovic Butelle- More than capable back up who should be your second choice, and has no real need for replacement.

Barel Mouko- Very able third choice who should give sufficient back up during Landreau's recovery.

Recommended Signings: Your well covered for the moment but Alpheonse Areola from PSG has the ability to be a brilliant goalkeeper. Matej Delac may also become a good long term option, whilst Sinat Bolat looks very promising from Standard.

Defenders

Franck Beria- Solid full back, doesn't need replacing at the moment.

Emerson- Weak link of first choice defence, but still capable.

Adil Rami- Fantastic young player who should attract big clubs interest. Keep onto him and play him.

Nicolas Plestan- Solid alongside Rami, forms a good partnership.

Jery Vandam- Good young full back, who is reliable as back up to Beria.

Aurelien Chedjou- Decent versatile squad player, will fill in in crisis' admirably. Listed as defender due to lack of depth in defence.

Recommended Signings: This are is solid centrally but requires a replacement to Emerson, I would suggest Christian Ansaldi or if you want to stay French Jeremy Morel. Jean Alain Fanchone is also a very good option here. Nicolas Otamendi or Nicolas N'Kolou are also younger options. Georgy Schennikov also offers a younger option at left back.

Midfielders

Mathieu Debuchy- A good midfielder who could perform well in a defensive midfield role or out wide.

Yohann Cabaye- Talented Frenchmen who should be one of your key players.

Rio Mavuba*- Club captain and star player. Should form a formidable partnership with Cabaye. Central midfield is currently your strongest area.

Ludovic Obraniak- Most natural winger, should be in contention for first team place.

Stephane Dumont- Club Vice-Captain and very capable midfielder, best deployed in a defensive midfield role.

Florent Balmont-Another solid midfielder who would otherwise ease into the midfield but with Mavuba and Cabaye you may contemplate selling as offers come in.

Marko Maric- No real future, adds depth to the squad but nothing else.

Recommended Signings- You are well covered again centrally and would be more advisable to target wide midfielders. Milos Krasic offers an expensive but effective option as does Mouassa Sissoko centrally. Sofiane Feghouli would also be a brilliant option. Gael Kakuta and Ryad Boudebouz could also be picked up as young wingers.

Forwards

Tulio De Melo- Can be used as an effective target man, very good forward in partnership with Gervinho.

Gervinho- Can be used centrally or out wide, effective in both. Brilliant player who should improve.

Eden Hazard- Do not dream of selling, should turn out in to a gem of a player. I recommend to intergrate him into the first team from the off as a playmaker.

Robert Vittek- Experienced forward who can be kept as a good backup and attacking option.

Pierre-Alain Frau- Similar to Vittek in ability, you may be best off offloading him as you have better options.

Larsen Toure- To real future, may be advisable to keep as few parties are interested.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang- Useful forward on loan from AC Milan, although promising I wouldn't advise trying to make move permanent.

Recommended Signings: Alejandro Dominguez is certainly your best option here, it is easy to sign him with an offer of roughly £1.2 million. Similarly to Patrick Vieira, Ruud Van Nistrelrooy is also an option if your wage budget is adjusted, while Loic Remy is a good option but may be too expensive option first season. You may want to keep your eyes on River's Daniel Villalva aswell. David Ngog also offers a young French option. Adriano also offers a big name signing afte after the first transfer window.

Players in bold make up my recommended starting 11 with the players you have from the start.

Best Youth Prospects:

David Alcibiade- Brilliant young defender with bags of potential.

Yannis Salibur- Talented left winger who looks to have a future with the club.

Omar Benzerga- Young midfielder who again has a chance of making it at the club.

Pierre Baptiste Baherle- His stats are eye catching at 18, and looks to be another who could come through.

Givestin N'Suku- Capped by Angola at 19, could earn future transfer fee even if no future.

Emil Lyng- Young Dane who could be interesting as backup.

Formation Analysis

You have capable players to play in various formation, and the 4-4-2 is the most standard and easy to set up.

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu30/uscdpalermo/lille442.jpg

I personally use a 4-2-3-1 to utilise the attacking strength that LOSC have, as well as forming a solid base with the two defensive midfielders. Here's how I'd set it up.

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu30/uscdpalermo/lille4231.jpg

If you are too implement the 4-2-3-1, I recommend strengthening wide areas as paramount first.

So why choose Lille...

with a 50,000 + capacity stadium to look forward to after 3 seasons, your challenge is to bring Champions League football back to Lille for it. A club with ambition who are already in the Europa League for the upcoming season harbour a big challenge but not an impossible one!

GOOD LUCK if you choose LOSC

l'histoire se joue maintenant!

Really liked your team analysis mate.

Central midfield partnership of Mavuba and Cabaye is something you can really build around.

Very Nice thread mate

Lille are no match for the mighty PSG though

Excellent work, well done

Thanks

Will be posting an update of my progress tomorrow.

Hazard , belgian of course. :smug:

Cheers for this thread.

Despite being an Argyle fan, I've for some reason become a fan of Lille recently. Having just got the game, I'll be creating a save shortly.

oh and, first post

Nice OP

Too bad Hazard has been downgraded a bit, he was absolutely insane on FM09!

Got Hazard 12m€ 2nd season for my arsenal game and he's outstanding!

cool thing is that he's an Arshavin fan and likes arsenal.

I might do a Lille save when I get bored of Benfica.

Tulio

Yes Hazard is brilliant playing as a playmaker and Tulio is much better than his stats look.

Gianni Bruno and Salvatore Crimi (both Belgian) also look like good prospects but Lukaku unfortunately turned me down.

Can you please provide a link for your tactics, last year won the Cl in the second year with Lille

Will start a game with them later this evening

Yeah, the 4-2-3-1 I use can be found above but these are the roles I use...

GK Landreau- Goalkeeper- Defend

RB Debuchy- Full Back- Automatic

LB Beria- Full Back- Automatic

CB Plestan- Central Defender- Defend

CB Rami- Central Defender- Defend

DMC Mavuba- Defensive Midfielder- Defend

DMC Cabaye- Deep Lying Playmaker- Support

AMR Milos Krasic- Winger- Attack

AML Alejandro Dominguez/Gervinho- Inside Forward-Attack

AMC- Eden Hazard- Advanced Playmaker

FW Adriano- Complete Forward- Attack

I also play a similar formation with Hazard being replaced by Tulio and being used as a target man as I tend to alter depending on the game.

Here's my team instructions below. I also play with alot of width and at a fast tempo (both about 3/4 through)

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu30/uscdpalermo/teaminstructions.jpg

Thx, I'm starting up now, do you mean 2 Sc or Tulio on AMC place for Hazard?

Yeah Tulio as a striker alongside someone else. Adriano may not be available first transfer window for this but Dominguez plays there as a good option for a partner.

Just copied the op out and started a save all going well

just reached the Europa League, winning 1-4 i Sweden against IFK, en winning again 2-0 at home. Interest inHazard is gining to raise, just rejected an offer from Real worth 4,7 M, Valancia and Man Utd also interested. Sold Maric, Balmont went to Lyon on a 3,8 M deal including also a swap with Faure, under 19 dc.

looking for a back-up for Emerson at DL, as I'm not convinced of him

Im playing the same formation as DR.ogba.

I bought in Jeremy Morel, Glauber, Jorge Andrade, Milan Badelj, Romeo Castelen and Diego Biseswar for a combined £13.5m

I sold Marko Maric, Aurelien Chedjou, Pierre Alan-Frau and Florent Balmont, for a combined £8.75m

I qualified for the Europa league afer beating Slavija (a Bosnian team) 4-1 on aggregate. They beat us 1-0 on their home turf, but a hat-trick from Tulio and a header from Jorge Andrade secured it at home.

Opening game was a well played 0-0 in Marseille, up to the first leg in the europa League, away to Madeira from Portugal

I guess that the Ligue 1 fixtures are programmed in as my first game was against Marseille, which I lost 2-1, our goal from Tulio.

Played a couple games since then.

Lille 4-0 AA Gent - Badelj, Cabaye, Tulio, Vittek

Lille 2-1 Toulouse- Beria, Vittek.

Must be, my second is also against Toulouse, won first leg in Portugal with 0-2 (Mavumba & Cervinho)

Well my first season has came to an end anyway and I snatched Champions League qualification on the final day to finish 3rd. I actually lost my final game but so did Auxerre leaving me in 3rd place.

Tulio De Melo was the outstanding player of the season with 24 goals in 30 games with Alejandro Dominguez producing much of the creativity. I failed to sign a left back replacement due to Ansaldi and Morel both going elsewhere but have made that my priority this summer having used Beria last season after I sold Emerson in January.

Here are my transfers...

Mostly loan fees but I have now received a combined fee of about £10 million from just Vittek, Frau and Toure to use in the summer.

Oh, I also had a lot of success against the bigger team leading to my best result of the season...

I also beat Marseille and PSG away from home My formation seemed to suit bigger teams, it will be interesting to see if its the same.

Well, Ive managed to sign Salomon Kalou after he was transfer listed by Chelsea. He\'ll join in January and will signal the end of Vittek at Lille. Dominguez is also coming in like on every other save of mine, so either Badelj or Hazard will go out on loan somewhere.

nice Drogba

qualified for the group stages, drawn with Ajax, Levski & OB. Won 1-4 in Toulouse & 1-3 @ PSG

signed Fanchone as cover for LB from Strasbourg

Interesting looking at last seasons table I only had 4 draws which was the least in the league.

The limit of 4 Non-EU players in France has got me a bit stuck though

Obviously want to keep on to Adriano, Tulio and Dominguez but Krasic (serbian) annoyingly counts as non-EU which means I can't complete a deal for Diego Renan at the moment and with Morel having moved on last summer theres a lack of options. Might go for Azpiculieuta from Osasuna and train him to play LB if I can afford him.

Good signing in Kalou(less) very versatile aswell.

Nice away wins aswell.

Well, I typed this all out already, but my connectino went while posting, so I\'ve got to try and do it again.

Well, I\'m in March 2010 at the moment, so only a few games left the end of the season. Here\'s my season review so far.

Starting Lineup

There is one player missing from this screenie, which is Ludovic Obraniak, and he\'ll probably be leaving in the Summer.

League Table

As you can see, the top half is quite tight, and if I win my game in hand, I could move upto 5th and a Europa League position, which would be nice.

Transfers

As well as the transfers in this screenie, I\'ve also got a few deals lined up for the end of the season.

Nicolas Burdisso, Marc Crosas, Dwight Tiendalli and possibly Damien Plessis. All of these deals are free transfers, and I\'m still on the lookout for any good deals. This would signal the end of Glauber, Mathieu Debuchy, Jerry Vandam and if Plessis comes in, Dumont would go.

Europa League

So far in the Europa League, Ive gone through the Group Stages, leading on to a tie against Rubin Kazan, which I won 6-4 on aggregate. In the next round I have Everton, which could be where I go out.

Coupe De La Ligue

Lost in Quarter Final to OGC Nice.

Coupe De France

I have Lyon in the 11th round, but if I can repeat my 2-1 win from the first half of the season, I\'ll be very happy.

Discuss.

Sorry if I rambled

Only 7 points away from Champions league if I saw rightly, with 12 games to go, you never know and you can definately overcome Everton...

Kalou and Dominguez both look like they've been brilliant and once Tulio gets firing, he's hard to stop.

Good youngsters signed aswell, Iker Muniain

Just missed out to Rangers on Vladimir Weiss on a free

A couple of significant points just occured.

Lost 3-1 to Lyon in CDF.

In Europa League, beat Everton 1-0 at home, but got smashed 5-1 at Goodison Park, so Im out of both these competitions now.

Trying to bring in Artur Boka from Stuttgart for £1.3m, then I\'ll ship out Emerson, who\'s been rubbish.

I do have a dilemma. I will have 3 AMC\'s competing for 1 spot next season. Usually I prefer to have 2 for rhis position, a starter and backup, but as Dominguez came in, I decided to put Hazard out on loan but he rejected everywhere, so he sat in the reserves.

Basically, who should I get rid of, Dominguez, Badelj or Hazard? If Hazard were to go, it\'d be on loan hopefully, and the the season after that, when he returns from loan, Dominguez would go.

Ouch, got further than I did ayway, I lost 5-4 to Hertha in the final group game when I only need a draw.

Yeah I had the same problem but for the front 4 positions generally, I'd keep Dominguez because of his versatility at least for now and loan whoevers easiest to loan out from Badelj/Hazard. I'd favour loaning Badelj out as I've just had offers from Real Madrid and Barcelona for Hazard. I hear Badelj is good though, irl anyway, so yeah perhaps do what you suggested, loaning whoever you think would be most ineffective.

Looking to tie up a deal for Radoi now, looks good, experienced and reasonably cheap.

Played 7 in the ligue winning 4, drawing 3, currently 5th, with to games in hand.

Drew 1-1 in Amsterdam, and won 4-0 against Levski, top of my group with 7.

Little injunry crisis, both Butelle and Mouko out at the same time, Landreau still out for 3 months. Played Odjika already twice, winning 3-2 against Rennais & 4-0 Levski.

Right, just started the 2nd season. Ive played 3 league games so far, with a \\\"P3, W1, D1, L1\\\" record. My loss was against Bordeaux, who won Ligue 1 in season 1, and I think they\\\'ll do it again. I lost 3-1 to them, Diego Biseswar scoring my goal. My draw was against USBCO, Tulio scoring for us. My win came against Nantes, newly promoted to Ligue 1. I beat them 2-1, Tulio with both goals.

So, a reasonable start, I think it will take a couple more games for my team to gel.

Starting Lineup

Transfers

Wasnt whether to put a screenie up, as I let 27 players go on free, so you cant see all of my sales, but I\\\'ll list the ones that are missing.

The players not visible on the outs are:

Milan Badelj on loan to Hannover

Jonathan Dos Santos on loan to Charleroi

Gianni Bruno on loan to Stade de Reims

Emil Lyng for £500k to FC Gueugnon

Cedric Baseya for £500k to Caen

Alexandre Oukidja for £625k to USBCO

Peter Franquart for £1m to Torino

I was quite shocked, when in early June, Lyon enquired about Obrankiak. I was planning to sell him, so I went back to them thinking £8m upfront was too much, but they paid up . So i got alot more than I was hoping to get. Also got a nice £3m profit on Alejandro Dominguez. I feel that my transfers were all sensible.

Also I have 2 more transfers lined up.

Martin Galvan will join on June 9th 2011 for £1.8m

Jano Ananidze will join on January 1st 2011 for £2.8m

Without realising, I\\\'ve overstocked on AMC\\\'s, and by next June, I\\\'ll have Jimenez, Badelj, Hazard, Castaignos, Galvan and Ananidze, 6 top class AMC\\\'s and since I only need 2, could leave me with a headache .

Anyway, I\\\'ll get back to it.

nice

Just won 3-2 at home to Bordeaux, played 11 won 7, draw 3, lost 1 (0-1 to St Etienne, ex player Mirallas scoring), with still 2 games in hand, I'm 4th, 5 points behind OM in first place. 10 points in europe, with 2 games to go, so almoust certain of European fotbaal in 2010.

Nice work there

Adriano's just been ruled out for 10/11 months which leaves me with a bit of a problem.

I sold Krasic as I received a good offer and he was largely disappointing, and replaced him with Dzagoev. I also signed Corchia and Ranocchia in defence but missed out on Radoi to Villlarreal which really annoyed me. Also got Poli on loan.

Transfer window not yet to shut so I'm looking for a winger of forward to give me further depth with £10 million to spend but not sure who to go for.

Look at Kalou, he\\\'s quite good. Maybe Gatagov aswell.

I seem to be suffering from second season syndrome. Every save Ive done a second season, Ive done terribly, and its continuing. After 8 games Im 15th, and have 9 points from a possible 24.

Any advice?

Already joined City so I doubt I could tempt him away, havent progressed alot recently so windows still open so might look at Gatagov further thanks.

Hmm difficult one, maybe rotation, could try out a few younger players in this time. Benzerga and Salibur are looking good, as is Alcibiade. Or perhaps just a more physical/attacking mentality. Only 8 games though, you only need a bit of a run and you'll be back going.

How's everyones youngsters going? The three I mentioned above in particular.

Well, I\'m not playing any of them, or having them tutored, they\'ll probably end up leaving.

Im mainly focusing on Osei, Muniain and Castaignos at the moment. Osei has scored a few goals as backup striker, he has unbeleivable pace, so hopefully he can come in properly soon.

Top of the ligue 1, end of November !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking to buy some fresh blood in January, extra central midfielder & left winger would be a must

Season keeps goining well, top of the group in Europe, 4 wins & 2 draws, Ajax second with 9 points, first knock out round is against Braga, and then up to the winner of HSV vs Shaktar.

still first in league, won 2-1 at home to Lyon, Fauré is stepping in for Adil, who is injured for 7 weeks, Hazard & Cervinho aldo injured for 4 & 8 weeks, luckely Dominguez signed from Rubin on a free med december, so he can fill in for either of them.

Aubameyang just scored a htrick playing alone up front in the place of Tulio.

Game corrupted

Managed to salvage it though, and only lost a couple of months, so I basically have to deal in the transfer market all over again but it came just before my first game luckily enough so it's not the end of the world.

Probably look to bring in same transfers or similar ones which is frustrating as there was a lot of negotiating it seemed.

Nice work there aswell Jefke

Dominguez is so good.

THX DR.ogba, reached the final of the coupe de la ligue, will play PSG ! bought nor sold any players in January, still first in the ligue, hope I'll keep everbody fit

I probably missed this, but what season are you in Jefke?

Ive just come out of January 2011. After an awful start to the season, Im now up into 5th place after 22 games.

3 players came in in January. First was Jano Ananidze, who had been organised along time ago, he cost £2.8m. Next came a transfer listed Mame Biram Diouf from Man Utd for £4m. Osei wasnt a good enough backup, so felt I had to strenghen. Lastly Matej Delac came in from Chelsea. Only 18 and scouts said not far from Landreau\'s ability so for £1.8m thought it was a bargain. This signalled the end of Ludovic Butelle though.

Lined up Jelle Van Damme, Necip Uysal, Borja Baston, Mohamed Diame and Moussa Dembele to join on free\'s at the end of the season, so a reshuffle will be done then, with Boka and Dumont likely to leave.

January first season

Hit a run of very poor form at the moment, lost heavily to Le Mans, Sochaux and Lyon in a row. If this form doesnt take a turn by the end of the season, I think I\'ll call it a day on my Lille save.

Yeah, just been given the sack after going 6 games without a win.

Might start another save later on in the year.

Little update, signed Ranocchia, Neymar, Corchia, with Poli on loan.

Currently sitting 5th with 10 games remaining and hoping to push for champions league place. Will post more once season finishes.

I won't be playing B4 friday evening, due to, lack of time

Right, so I finished my season, pretty content with Europa League qualification with a 6th place.

Adriano was at the heart of this as he won European marksmen of the year.

David Alcibiade's progression though has perhaps been the most satisfying aspect of the season as he's gained interest from Lyon and Arsenal but committed to me, and now looks ready to be a regular starter.

Where does the board expect you to finish?

First Season, 6th place finish as they do give you a pretty large transfer budget. Very achievable, but they also seem to be quite patient.

I hear Eden Hazard is even better on the next patch (?) even if I don't get him upgraded.